ASTARTE — Quod Superius Sicut Inferius (review)

ASTARTE — Quod Superius Sicut Inferius album cover Album · 2002 · Melodic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
This is the last hurrah from the original Astarte trio of Kinthia, Tristessa and Nemesis; Tristessa would keep the band going after this for a couple of albums before succumbing to leukemia complications. Whereas those later releases had Tristessa working with a clutch of allies, the early Astarte releases stood out from the black metal pack by having a woman-dominated lineup, which was uncommon in metal in general and just about unheard-of in black metal.

Not content with kicking down gender barriers in black metal, on Quod Superius they also kick down musical barriers, with a melodic black metal sound which deftly works in a few symphonic elements here and there, with pieces like the instrumental Sickness showcasing the band's technical capabilities whilst still remaining emotionally engaging and atmospheric. Black metal bands who shift from a raw style (as Astarte had on their earliest albums) into a more clean style of production are taking a bit of a risk, because that's when their true instrumental capabilities become apparent, but in this case Astarte are unveiled as a competent trio; the album might not be enormously special in terms of its content, but there's certainly potential here and I sort of wish they'd been able to explore this direction further together. It's something of a shame that Kinthia and Nemesis seem to have dropped out of the scene after this, and we can only hope to hear more from them in the future.
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